Michael Fitzgerald went to law school at Berkeley before serving as a federal prosecutor and a lawyer for the Los Angeles police commission

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Sheree Red Bornand, right, hugs Aidan Dunn after hearing the decision in the United States District Court proceedings challenging Proposition 8 outside of the Phillip Burton Federal Building in San Francisco. Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker made his ruling Wednesday in a lawsuit filed by two gay couples who claimed the voter-approved ban violated their civil rights. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
Michael Fitzgerald will succeed Walker as the only gay men to have served as federal judges in California. Fitzgerald, 52, is a Los Angeles attorney.

Californa's first openly gay federal judge will be Michael Fitzgerald, after the Los Angeles attorney won Senate confirmation this week.

The Senate voted 91-6 Thursday to confirm the former federal prosecutor, the third openly gay person elevated to a judicial positions by President Barack Obama, according to reports. The first two, both confirmed by the Senate, serve in New York, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

Vaughn Walker, the federal judge to whom Proposition 8 was appealed, confirmed reports of his sexuality after he retired in February 2011, the newspaper reported. Bill Clinton appointed the first gay federal judge in 1994.

Fitzgerald went to law school at Berkeley before serving as a federal prosecutor and a lawyer for the Los Angeles police commission, according to the the newspaper.